Lake Michigan
2007
Roger Moutenot produced the album, Zach Rogue wrote every word, and a Zune advert gave this one legs.
★ 3.1
The Songs canon
Sourced and sung.
Every song chosen by hand, with the recording to play it.
Browse all 2,393 songs or filter by genre, subject, artist, and year.
Browse all 2,393 songs or filter by genre, subject, artist, and year.
Call It What You Want
2011
Paul Epworth produced it, and Foster points the synth hook at everyone too eager to conform.
★ 3.5
Karma Chameleon
1983
Judd Lander's harmonica, six weeks at number one in Britain, and Boy George singing about pleasing everybody.
★ 5.1
Ants Marching
1995
Played live since 1991 and cut twice on record, it rides Boyd Tinsley's violin hook and Beauford's snare.
★ 5.3
Shangri-La
1969 · From Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)
Davies wrote it after seeing his sister's house on an Australian housing estate, turning suburban comfort into a cage.
★ 5.7
What They Do
1996 · From Illadelph Halflife
Charles Stone III's video walks the group through every rap-video cliche, which is exactly what the record is arguing.
★ 5.8
Merry Go Round
2012
A pun on two Marys, overheard from a co-writer's mother, seeded a debut single that won a Grammy.
★ 5.8
Look at Miss Ohio
2003 · From Soul Journey
Welch keeps the arrangement to two guitars, and a beauty queen decides she will do right, just not yet.
★ 5.8
Express Yourself (Charles Wright)
1970
Wright wrote and produced it, took it to number three R&B, and nineteen years later N.W.A sampled the groove.
★ 6.1
Follow Your Arrow
2013
Musgraves wrote it with Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, a shrug at conformity the CMAs voted Song of the Year.
★ 6.1
Numb
2003
Twelve weeks atop the modern rock chart, and Bennington turning somebody else's expectations into a chorus millions shouted back.
★ 6.4
Mass Appeal
1994 · From Hard to Earn
A joke about radio playlists, built on Vic Juris's "Horizon Drive," and it became Gang Starr's most recognizable record.
★ 6.6
Cut Your Hair
1994 · From Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Malkmus turned a fake band advert into a hook, and Pavement's snipe at image became their biggest hit.
★ 6.8
White Riot
1977 · From The Clash
Strummer and Simonon were in the 1976 Notting Hill Carnival riot; the single ran under two minutes and reached thirty-eight.
★ 6.9
The Real Slim Shady
2000 · From The Marshall Mathers LP
Iovine wanted another "My Name Is," so Eminem wrote this hours before the album was due. It hit number four.
★ 7.3
Me, Myself and IDe La Soul
Me, Myself and I
1989 · From 3 Feet High and Rising
Prince Paul flipped Funkadelic's Knee Deep; De La Soul resisted the beat, then got their only R&B number one.
★ 7.3
In Bloom
1991 · From Nevermind
Cobain aimed it at fans who missed the point, and Kerslake's video staged them on a mock Ed Sullivan Show.
★ 7.4
Swimming Pools (Drank)Kendrick Lamar
Swimming Pools (Drank)
2012 · From good kid, m.A.A.d city
T-Minus made the beat for Trey Songz, who passed; Lamar turned the rejected demo into a study of addiction.
★ 7.4
No Surprises
1997 · From OK Computer
Radiohead cut version after version and kept the first take, glockenspiel and all, a lullaby about suburban despair.
★ 7.5
Mrs. Robinson
1968
Simon had it as Mrs. Roosevelt with nonsense syllables for a verse, and it won Record of the Year.
★ 7.9